“Employers have no control over the amounts (other than to limit them altogether) that individual employees find necessary to meet their medical, dental and vision needs in a given year. Rational employers will terminate Health FSA and HSA programs if they must pay a tax equal to 40% of the total value of contributions into.. Read more
“This flexibility is a strong argument in favor of using this approach when employees transition from traditional to HSA-qualified coverage. Employers and participants must be vigilant to ensure that they don’t make a mistake that negates an employee’s HSA eligibility for an entire 12 months.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance October.. Read more
“There are three important ways employees benefit from participating in a Limited-Purpose Health FSA that employers should consider when reviewing whether to offer it: Additional tax savings, preservation of HSA funds and cash-flow advantages.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance October 12, 2017 One of the more difficult concepts for benefits administrators.. Read more
“The real fear should be low elections that participants spend well before the end of the plan year. In that case, participants have no forfeited balances, but they lose money by paying for eligible items with after-tax funds once they exhaust their low elections. Psychologically, not gaining something (additional tax advantages, which result in more.. Read more
“An employee enrolled in both the HSA-qualified medical plan and traditional Health FSA is not HSA-eligible. She can enroll in the medical plan, but she can’t open an HSA or make any HSA contributions before the end of the Health FSA plan year at the earliest. (If she has an already existing HSA with funds in it,.. Read more
“Today, the demographics of Health FSA and HSA owners are nearly identical – including family income. No longer is one account blue collar and one white collar.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance June 22, 2017 I recently spent another day on Capitol Hill – my fifth trip this year to meet.. Read more
Sen. Hatch, left, and Rep. Paulsen During the past three years, we’ve seen a dramatic change, as a growing number of plans impose coinsurance after the deductible. This change increases members’ potential financial responsibility to as much as $6,550 for self-only coverage and $13,100 for family coverage – figures far above the $3,400 (self-only) and.. Read more
An employer isn’t going to continue a program that saves an employee between 22% and 38% in taxes if the employer has to pay a 40% excise tax on that money. For a family with a $2,600 Health FSA contribution, that means a tax increase of $600 to $900 annually. By William G. (Bill) Stuart.. Read more
By William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance Dec. 22, 2016 Health FSAs are pretty well understood by employers and benefit advisors. They’ve been in place since federal tax reform and have changed little during the intervening three decades. For that reason, Health FSA participation hasn’t grown much in recent years. The only.. Read more
By William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance December 9, 2016 A business colleague recently called me to secure some information for his annual white paper on the reimbursement industry. He asked me questions about the future of Health FSAs, HRAs and HSAs. Here are the thoughts that I shared with him: Overall.. Read more